I don’t know if you did this growing up, but when I was in third grade, about nine years old, we lived in a small mountain community called Fiddletown. The house was on five archers of mountain slopes and was a two story, two bedroom, two bath, with a loft. My room was the loft. The kitchen was directly underneath me, and late at night I would make my way down the stairs for a bite to eat, or a drink of water.
My parents’ room was on the second story with me, and I had to pass it by as I made my way down the stairs. In my mind I always thought, if I turn on the light, then they’ll know I’m awake. So, I worked really hard making my way down the stairs without the use of lights. And when your house is out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees that are taller than the building, it becomes pitch black. Navigating down the stairs in complete darkness, remembering which steps made creeks and which ones didn’t was a skill that I developed over time. In fact, during the day, I would close my eyes and make my way down so that I could practice in the light.
But every so often, I’d miss a step and go tumbling down the stairs. Luckily I never got seriously injured, and was never caught. But from then on, even today, I don’t tend to turn on lights if I don't’ have to. In our church building, in the pitch black of night, I make my way through the hallways, without ever turning on lights. People that walk with me, tend to turn on the flashlight on their phones, but for me, I’ve practiced not seeing so often, that I’ve become accustomed to walking through places that I know, as if I were blind.
But it’s this idea of of being okay with walking around as if we were blind, that brings us to our final week in our March towards the Resurrection Series. In this final week, we’re going to be jumping ahead in the book of Luke to the 24th chapter, where we’re going to be starting in verse 13. And as we open up to Luke 24, verse 13, let’s bring this series into full focus by looking back on the last four weeks.
In these last several weeks, we’ve been focusing on interactions Jesus had as he made his way to Jerusalem. In the first week we saw parents trying to get their children to Jesus for a blessing. But the disciples were keeping the children and parents away, because they weren’t as important as other people. A person who was important enough by their standards to meet with Jesus, was a rich young man with a lot of respect in his town. But Jesus, rebuked the disciples for keeping the children from him, and through Jesus’ teachings, it was the rich young man that left without receiving a blessing from Jesus. We walked away from the first week with the understanding that we are not to play the gate keeper as to who gets a blessing or not from Jesus, but rather, we need to follow Jesus where he calls us to go.
The next interaction Jesus had, was with two men. The first was a blind beggar who sought a physical healing from Jesus. Jesus healed the man, and the crowd who saw this rejoiced at God’s work. The second man, was seeking to simply understand who Jesus was, but when he met Jesus, he realized his sin and gave up the wealth that he had spent his life trying to accumulate. This man received salvation that day, but the crowd had grumbled that Jesus would even interact with such a man. It was here that we understood, that we must get rid of our personal biases so that we can rejoice at all of the work that God is doing.
In the third week, we spent time dissecting the parable of the Ten Minas. A parable that Jesus used to try and help the people understand what was really going on. See the people wanted to make Jesus their king, but Jesus wanted them to realize that they really didn’t really want him to be their king, because they wanted a physical kingdom, and Jesus’ plan was to build a spiritual one that was beyond physical borders. It was here that we walked away with the understanding that, God’s ways are sometimes hard for us to follow, but when we do, we get to see him build his kingdom.
Finally, last week, we celebrated communion by looking at three sequential events: The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, Jesus weeping over the city, and Jesus clearing out the temple. These three sequential events showed us what needs to happen in our own lives. We tend to want physical victories, just like the people as they heard Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem and thought he came to overthrow the Roman government. But Jesus wept over them, because they were missing what really needed to happen. Jesus had come to clear out sin from us, so that we may have a spiritual rebirth. And we walked away from last week with the understanding that in order to have victories in this life, we must seek God for spiritual renewal.
This brings us, as we jump from chapter 20 to chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke, to the resurrection. The very event we have been marching towards. And just like we’ve done in the weeks prior to today, we are going to look at one more interaction that Jesus had. Let’s start reading in Luke chapter 24, in verse 13.
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
Now, I love this. Jesus is raised and one of the first things he does is find some disciples walking along, and messes with them. “What are you discussing?” Jesus asks. “What things?” He asks, continuing playing dumb. As if he has no clue and needs to be told everything. But let’s notice somethings about this whole situation.
First, these two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem. Why? We know that they have heard that Jesus rose from the dead. Why not hang around and see for yourself? Why leave when something amazing could be happening?
Could it be because they had lost hope? In verses 20 and 21 it says, “20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”
It sounds like they had, past-tense, hoped that Jesus was the king, but when he was crucified they lost that hope. Even when people came and told them he had risen, they still were without hope. Couple this with the fact that they had left Jerusalem, it sounds like they were no longer confident that Jesus was what they had hoped he was.
Now in verse 16, I think that we get an interesting sentence. It says, “but they were kept from recognizing him.”
Now, I have read other people’s interpretation of this verse, and most people think that God is keeping them from seeing that it is Jesus. But I don’t think that’s the case. From what we have just talked about, how they have lost their hope of Jesus becoming king, I think it’s their hopelessness that is keeping them from recognizing Jesus, and not God.
I mean listen to what Jesus tells them, starting in verse 25, “He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
Jesus gets on them for their loss of hope, and he points out how they have not believed what God had spoken through the prophets. It’s because of their own hopelessness that they are unable to recognize Jesus standing before them. But it doesn’t end there. Let’s pick it back up in verse 28.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Did you catch that? It wasn’t until Jesus shared a meal with them, blessing it like he always did, that they woke up to this man sitting with them, who was indeed the risen Jesus. Notice what they say in verse 32, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
I think this is something that we really need to recognize. As Jesus opened up the Scriptures to these two disciples, the hope rekindled inside of them, but they still did not recognize him. It’s almost as if they were wanting to recognizing Jesus, but were fighting the thought of it. They allowed their loss of hope to be greater, than Jesus in front of them.
It’s almost as if they were so used to being blind in hopelessness since Jesus’ crucifixion, that when they had an opportunity to see clearly, they couldn’t. Even when Jesus spoke hope to them through the Scriptures, they still couldn’t let go of their blindness, the couldn’t let go fo their hopelessness of their hopelessness.
Yet, at the moment they sat down for dinner with Jesus, the breaking of bread, the blinders came off. They were able to see and everything changed. They had spent the better part of the day walking away from Jerusalem, away from hope. They had reached their destination as the sun set. But at the realization that Jesus was indeed resurrected, they left in the dark to return to Jerusalem, and back to their hope in Jesus.
And this is what God is calling us today, a return to hope. A return to him. With everything going on in our world, God is hope in troubled times. He is the only solid footing in times of great strife. God is the constant when everything is shifting around us and we don’t know what the next day will bring.
God is calling all of us back to hope, and that hope can only be experienced through the risen Jesus. Who, even now, stands with us waiting for us to recognize him in our midst. We must dive into his word, the Bible. We must take time and enter communion with him, like we did last week. We must seek to recognize what he’s doing right now, and not allow the hopelessness of the world to send us away from the God of hope.
Today, if you do not know the hope that is in Jesus, I want to invite you into a personal relationship with him right now. And it starts with being honest. You and I are not perfect. We fail at a lot of things. One of the greatest failures we have done is to think we can do it on our own. God never made us to be like that. To stumble around in the dark, becoming accustomed to it. No, he created us to live our lives in tandem with him. Everyday at every moment, drawing our strength from him.
But we have gone our own way, indulging in what the Bible calls sin. Giving into anger, lying, gossip, breaking down others, and so much more. But this the hope found in Jesus, God doesn’t leave us where we’re at, but provides a way from that sin which leads to hopelessness and death, to a new destination that ends with hope and life.
And all we have to do is go before God, and admit we sin, recognizing Jesus’ death on the cross on our behalf, and accepting him as our Lord and Savior. If you hear the voice of God today and desire to move form hopelessness of this world, to the hope that is only found in Jesus, then repeat this prayer after me, “Jesus, I have sinned, and because of that I am hopeless, but you say you have given me hope through the cross and through your empty tomb. I accept that gift of hope, please be my Savior and my Lord that I may trust and follow you all the days of my life. Amen.”
Let us celebrate today, that Jesus is alive, and is one day coming back, and that we may be found on our own roads recognizing him as Savior. Amen.
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